System and method for facilitating investment account transfers

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed toward a system and method that facilitates investment account transfers where the time standard for reliably accomplishing a transfer may be decreased. A system for facilitating investment account transfers includes an administrator, a rules engine, a service case manager, and a messaging engine. The administrator is configured to receive a transfer request and to initiate a transfer case. The administrator is also configured to cooperate with a rules engine to facilitate management of the transfer case in accordance with a set of business rules. Cooperating with the rules engine, the administrator is configured to initiate service cases comprising business process instructions which, when executed, advance the progress of the transfer case. A service case manager is configured to receive service cases from the administrator, and to perform the specific business processes specified therein. Finally, a messaging engine is configured to receive instructions from the service case manager and to transmit messages to appropriate parties at appropriate times in accordance with the specified business processes.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/125,929, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING INVESTMENTACCOUNT TRANSFERS,” filed on Apr. 19, 2002, which application is anon-provisional of and claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/347,492, filed Jan. 10, 2002, which applications areincorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to systems for facilitatingaccount transfers, and more specifically, to systems and methods forfacilitating transfers of investment accounts.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Individual investors commonly own portfolios of financial assets such asstocks, mutual funds, bonds, certificates of deposit, foreigncurrencies, options, REITS, cash, or any other tradable assets. To helpmanage their asset portfolios, investors often employ the services of aninvestment firm. Often, an individual financial advisor serves toprovide advice and facilitate communication between the investor and theinvestment firm.

Investment firms typically hold the investors' assets in investmentaccounts. In situations where an investor desires to change investmentfirms or otherwise change the entity who holds the investor's assets, itmay be necessary to transfer the assets in the investment account. Forexample, in situations where the new investment firm does not share acommon clearing broker-dealer with the original investment firm, it maybe desirable and/or necessary to transfer the financial assets of theinvestor's portfolio from the account of the original investment firm toan account of the new investment firm.

One method for transferring assets involves first converting thefinancial assets at the original investment firm to an equivalent amountof cash, depositing the cash in the new investment firm, and convertingthe cash to back to an equivalent amount of the assets to be held by thenew investment firm. Unfortunately, however, this method requiresmultiple transactions to be completed, each incurring transactionexpenses, exposing the investor to market risk, and often triggering taxconsequences.

To avoid these pitfalls, various methods have been developed to affectwho holds the financial assets without requiring their conversion to anintermediate transferable medium, such as cash. For example, wheresecurities are held as book entry, a transfer may be accomplished bymodifying the holders' books and records.

To further streamline the transfer process, investment firms havedeveloped and standardized procedures to accommodate transfers of mostcommon types of financial assets. For example, major investment firmshave established the Automated Client Account Transfer System, i.e.,ACATS, which is an electronic network system configured to facilitatetransfers of financial assets.

Although investment account transfers are typically accomplishedaccording to standardized procedures, the standard investment accounttransfer process can be complex and time consuming. Both the proceduresthat are used and the time that is required to complete a transferdepend upon whether the transfer may be accomplished through anestablished electronic network system such as ACATS. Even where aninvestment account transfer may be accomplished using ACATS, however,delays may be experienced due to manual process steps that may beentailed. Moreover, in cases where an investment account transfer maynot be accomplished using any established electronic network system,Such as where the assets to be transferred may include checks, wiretransfers, certificates of deposit, or cash, the established timestandard may be much longer. Further, in the case of direct rollovers,some transfers may require a longer time standard. Accordingly, manywould want the current time standards to be shortened.

Some of the causes of these unreasonably long time standards are thenecessity for manual evaluation, processing, and monitoring involved inmany of the steps in the transfer processes. For example, despite a highdegree of automation, the ACATS transfer process still requiresemployees to manually evaluate the assets being transferred, to manuallysubmit investment account transfer requests, and to manually monitor thestatus of asset transfers. These manual process steps are time consumingand may result in errors, causing process steps to be repeated.Similarly, where an investment account transfer may not be accomplishedusing an established electronic network system, the processes may beeven more manually intensive and may be dependent upon cooperationbetween the investment firm from which the assets are to be transferred,i.e., the delivering firm, and the firm to which the assets are to betransferred, i.e., the receiving firm. As a result, the process maydepend upon the timeliness, accuracy, and cooperation of competingentities and often requires excessive monitoring and repeated processsteps. Typically, where the transfer process is unable to rely upon anestablished electronic network system, manual review of assets andmanual decisioning based on industry and specific business rules ofindividual Broker-Dealers must be performed. Historically, anothersignificant source of dissatisfaction with investment account transfersstems from the common failure to notify appropriate parties when keyprocess steps have been completed or when necessary information isneeded.

Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a system and method forfacilitating investment account transfers where the time standard forreliably accomplishing a transfer could be reliably decreased. It wouldalso be advantageous if the system and method for facilitatinginvestment account transfers were more consistent, reliable andautomated while decreasing requirements for manual processing. Further,it would be advantageous to have a financial account transfer systemthat could be configured to facilitate both monitoring and execution ofthe transfer process with appropriate decision-making and messagingcapabilities.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention is directed toward a system and method forfacilitating investment account transfers. In particular, the inventionis directed toward a system and method that facilitates investmentaccount transfers where the time standard for reliably accomplishing atransfer may be decreased dramatically. A system for facilitatinginvestment account transfers includes an administrator, a rules engine,a service case manager, and a messaging engine.

The administrator is configured to receive a transfer request and toinitiate a transfer case. The administrator is also configured tocooperate with a rules engine to facilitate management of the transfercase in accordance with a set of business rules. Cooperating with therules engine, the administrator is configured to initiate service casescomprising business process instructions which, when executed, advancethe progress of the transfer case. A service case manager is configuredto receive service cases from the administrator, and to perform thespecific business processes specified therein. Finally, a messagingengine is configured to receive instructions from the service casemanager and to transmit messages to appropriate parties at appropriatetimes in accordance with the specified business processes.

An exemplary set of business rules may require the submission of arequired set of parameters regarding an individual investment account orasset or may require a specific set of criteria to be satisfied beforeinitiating or completing a process step.

An exemplary business process that may be initiated in accordance with abusiness rule may include the sending of a message indicating thatinsufficient information was received, such as where the required set ofparameters was not submitted, or the transmittal of an appropriatemessage when a transfer has been completed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY DRAWINGS

The above-mentioned objects and features of the present invention can bemore clearly understood from the following detailed descriptionconsidered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which likenumerals represent like elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the interactions of an exemplary system configured tofacilitate an investment account transfer process; and,

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary process for facilitating an investmentaccount transfer process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is an investment account transfer systemconfigured to facilitate the transfer of an investment account from adelivering firm to a receiving firm. The system facilitates automaticdecisioning, monitoring, and execution of processes required to completesuch investment account transfers. In accordance with one aspect of theinvention, a system for facilitating investment account transfersincludes an administrator, a rules engine, a service case manager, and amessaging engine.

The administrator is configured to facilitate receipt of a transferrequest and initiation of a transfer case. The administrator is alsoconfigured to facilitate cooperation with a rules engine to facilitatemanagement of the transfer case in accordance with a set of businessrules implemented on the rules engine. Cooperating with the rulesengine, and based on decisions made by the rules engine, theadministrator is configured to initiate service cases comprisingbusiness process instructions which, when executed, advance the progressof the transfer case. A service case manager is configured to receive aservice case from the administrator, and to facilitate execution of theinstructions contained in the service case, thereby accomplishing thespecific business processes specified in the service case. Finally, amessaging engine is configured to facilitate receiving instructions fromthe service case manager and to facilitate transmitting messages toappropriate parties at appropriate times in accordance with specifiedbusiness processes.

In an exemplary embodiment, a set of business rules requires thecollection of a required set of parameters regarding an individualinvestment account. Another exemplary set of business rules requires thesatisfaction of a specific set of criteria before allowing theinitiation or completion of a process step. An exemplary businessprocess that may be initiated in accordance with a business ruleincludes the sending of a message indicating that insufficientinformation was received where the required set of parameters was notsubmitted. Another exemplary business process includes the transmittalof an appropriate message when an investment account transfer has beencompleted.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a methodof facilitating the transfer of an investment account from a deliveringfirm to a receiving firm is also provided. In accordance with theinvention, data is collected from sources including the delivering firm,the receiving firm, and an external system such as ACATS or anotherestablished electronic network system. When the information has beencollected, it is communicated to the administrator, which cooperateswith the rules engine to make one or more decisions based on apredefined set of business rules, and to initiate one or more businessprocess. The business process may include sending messages, acquiringadditional information, or making an additional determinination. Atleast one of the business processes includes initiating the investmentaccount transfer.

The data to be collected and communicated to the administrator mayinclude data identifying the firm from which the investment account isto be transferred, i.e., the delivering firm. That identification datamay include data to identify the client such as the client's name,address, social security number, beneficiaries, birth date and the like.The identification data may also identify the delivering investmentaccount, e.g., by name and social security number, as well as thedelivering Broker-Dealer, e.g., by a participant number that may beassigned by industry standard relationships.

Further, the data to be collected and communicated to the administratormay include the delivering account number and an account type describingthe specific client investment account at the delivering firm. Theaccount type may represent the form of account ownership such asindividual, joint, trust, partnership, or corporation. The account typemay also indicate other information specifying account attributes suchas fee basis, account minimums, discretionary trading, or what kind offinancial products the account may hold. These account attributes mayalso reflect the type of brokerage account, such as an investmentaccount, an advisor-managed wrap account, individual retirement account,or client-managed wrap account. The account may be held at a financialinstitution such as a bank, a broker, a clearing agent, or any type offirm that holds investment accounts. Finally, data may be collectedidentifying specific assets to be transferred and indicating whether thetransfer is to be a full or partial transfer.

In an exemplary embodiment, data from the delivering firm and from theexternal source may be collected by an associate. An associate may be aperson, a machine, a computer, software and/or hardware, and may collectthe information through a telephone conversation, facsimile, scanner,character recognition software, from an electronic database, or fromforms received from an investor or a representative of an investor. Inan exemplary embodiment, the associate may collect data from a recorddatabase for comparison to, and verification of, data collected fromexternal sources. In these situations, the record data source may bemaintained for such comparison and verification purposes, and the datafrom the external sources may be compared to the data of record from therecord data source. In the event that the information entered by anassociate is incomplete, the associate may collect the missinginformation from any one of a variety of databases. The associate maycollect data from the receiving investment firm's internal system, fromthe delivering investment firm, or from an external source such asACATS.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system 100 for facilitatinginvestment account transfers includes an administrator 120 incommunication with a rules engine 130, a service case manager 140, and amessaging engine 150. The administrator 120 is configured to receive atransfer request 160 and to initiate a transfer case 170. Theadministrator 120 is also configured to cooperate with a rules engine130. Cooperating with the rules engine, the administrator 120 isconfigured to initiate a service case comprising one or more businessprocess instructions which, when executed, advances the progress of thetransfer case.

A service case manager 140 is configured to facilitate management of thetransfer case 170 in accordance with the business rules. Service casemanager 140 is configured to receive messages from the administrator120, to create additional service cases when necessary, and to performthe specific business processes specified in service cases. Finally, amessaging engine 150 is configured to receive instructions from theadministrator and the service case manager and to transmit messages toappropriate parties at appropriate times in accordance with specifiedbusiness processes.

The administrator 120 is configured to facilitate distribution ofservice cases, i.e., process steps or tasks, helpful in facilitating,monitoring and executing the investment account transfer process. Oncethe information has been collected and communicated to the administrator120, the administrator 120 proceeds to facilitate the completion of thetransfer case 170. Cooperating with the rules engine 130, and based ondecisions made by the rules engine 130, the administrator 120 mayinitiate one or more service cases, each comprising business processinstructions which, when executed, advance the progress of the transfercase 170. In this way, the administrator 120 distributes the processtasks among one or more service cases, which may specialize in a type ofservice case such as sending a message, accessing a database, or makinga decision.

Accordingly, the administrator 120 is configured to initiate a series ofautomated actions in response to the occurrence of one or morepredetermined event, the satisfaction of a business rule, and/or adecision made by the rules engine 130. For example, in the event thatinsufficient information has been collected to complete the transfer,the rules engine 130 may recognize the deficiency, and the administrator120 may respond by initiating a service case configured to execute aremedial procedure such as requesting or otherwise collecting themissing information. Typically, the first action initiated by theadministrator 120 is to request that the rules engine 130 evaluate thedata that was collected and determine what type of transfer is desired.In this way, the rules engine 130 may immediately recognize whether ornot a necessary piece of information is missing or whether an asset tobe transferred is ineligible for transfer, and if necessary, theadministrator 120 may initiate one or more remedial processessufficiently in advance to prevent unnecessary delay of the transfer.

The system 100 may include a host server or other computing systemsincluding a processor for processing digital data, a memory coupled tosaid processor for storing digital data, an input digitizer coupled tothe processor for inputting digital data, an application program storedin said memory and accessible by said processor for directing processingof digital data by said processor, a display coupled to the processorand memory for displaying information derived from digital dataprocessed by said processor and a plurality of databases, said databasesincluding client data, merchant data, financial institution data and/orlike data that could be used in association with the present invention.As those skilled in the art will appreciate, user computers willtypically include an operating system (e.g., Windows NT, 95/98/2000,Linux, Solaris, etc.) as well as various conventional support softwareand drivers typically associated with computers. User computers can bein a home or business environment with access to a network. In anexemplary embodiment, access is through the Internet through acommercially-available web-browser software package.

Communication between the parties to the transfer and the system 100 maybe accomplished through any suitable communication means, such as, forexample, a telephone network, , Internet, point of interaction device(point of sale device, personal digital assistant, cellular phone,kiosk, etc.), online communications, off-line communications, wirelesscommunications, and/or the like. One skilled in the art will alsoappreciate that, for security reasons, any databases, systems, orcomponents of the present invention may consist of any combination ofdatabases or components at a single location or at multiple locations,wherein each database or system includes any of various suitablesecurity features, such as firewalls, access codes, encryption,de-encryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

The computers may provide a suitable website or other Internet-basedgraphical user interface which is accessible by users. In oneembodiment, the Internet Information Server, Microsoft TransactionServer, and Microsoft SQL Server, are used in conjunction with theMicrosoft operating system, Microsoft NT web server software, aMicrosoft SQL database system, and a Microsoft Commerce Server.Additionally, components such as Access Sequel Server, Oracle, MySQL,Intervase, etc., may be used to provide an ADO-compliant databasemanagement system. The term “webpage” as it is used herein is not meantto limit the type of documents and applications that might be used tointeract with the user. For example, a typical website might include, inaddition to standard HTML documents, various forms, Java applets,Javascript, active server pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts(CGI), extensible markup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading stylesheets (CSS), helper applications, plug-ins, and the like.

The computing units may be connected with each other via a datacommunication network. The network may be a public network and assumedto be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. In the illustratedimplementation, the network may be embodied as the internet. In thiscontext, the computers may or may not be connected to the internet atall times. For instance, a computer of the receiving firm 196 may employa modem to occasionally connect to the internet, whereas theadministrator 120 computing center might maintain a permanent connectionto the internet. Specific information related to the protocols,standards, and application software utilized in connection with theInternet may not be discussed herein. For further information regardingsuch details, see, for example, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS ANDPROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex 1999);DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997). LOSHIN, TCP/IPCLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997).

The system 100 may be suitably coupled to network via data links. Avariety of conventional communications media and protocols may be usedfor data links. Such as, for example, a connection to an InternetService Provider (ISP) over the local loop as is typically used inconnection with standard modem communication, cable modem, Dishnetworks, ISDN, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or various wirelesscommunication methods. The system 100 might also reside within a localarea network (LAN) which interfaces to network via a leased line (T1,D3, etc.). Such communication methods are well known in the art, and arecovered in a variety of standard texts. See, e.g., GILBERT HELD,UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), hereby incorporated byreference.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the rules engine 130 may beconfigured to perform one or more decision-making processes. Exemplarydecisions are configured to eliminate manual processing steps in thetransfer process and include, for example, determining whether the taxidentification numbers and the account types of the delivering andreceiving accounts match, determining whether a request is a liquidationrequest, determining whether the client's data from the receiving firm196 matches the data acquired from the delivering firm 190, determiningwhether a letter of authorization has been acquired authorizing thetransfer between the non-matching client accounts, or any other decisionnecessitated by a financial account transfer process. Other exemplarydecisions include determining whether the product types match based upona predetermined set of match criteria defined in the rules engine. Toaccommodate situations where all match criteria may not be satisfied butwhere it is nevertheless desirable to allow the transfer to proceed, therules engine 130 may be configured to accommodate a manual, conditional,or automatic override and to determine whether that override has beenenabled and how it has been configured. The rules engine 130 may also beconfigured to accommodate the addition of new rules and/or themodification of existing rules, thereby facilitating the reconfigurationof the rules as business needs change. The rules engine 130 may beimplemented as a discrete module or may be distributed within or acrossthe other components of the system 100 such that the functions of therules engine 130 are distributed among, i.e., implemented within, theother elements of the system 100.

Upon initiation of a service case, the administrator 120 assigns andcommunicates the service case for execution by one or more service casemanagers 140. As described above, each service case comprises businessprocess instructions which, when executed, advance the progress of thetransfer. Exemplary service cases may comprise the business processes ofrequiring the addition of notes to a service case file or the sending ofan electronic message notification. Other exemplary business processesthat may be initiated by the administrator 120 based on data and therules include placing a hold on a service case due to insufficientinformation. If, for example, the rules require a social securitynumber, and if the social security number has not been collected, theadministrator 120 may initiate a business process to create a servicecase configured to generate a notification, such as an electronicmessage, requesting the additional information.

A service case may also be created to monitor the progress of a servicecase, such as requesting and/or collecting additional information.Exemplary business processes may also include submitting a transferrequest to ACATS 180, initiating a service case to track the progress ofan ACATS transfer, or initiating a service case to process a non-ACATtransfer.

It should be noted that the processing of a non-ACAT transfer mayinvolve many sub-processes such as sending forms to the delivering firm190. Accordingly, additional service cases may be initiated comprisingprocesses tailored for transferring specific assets. For example, somemutual funds must be cleared through a specific broker in order to betransferred. Accordingly, the administrator 120 may be configured torecognize the asset type and initiate an appropriate service case basedon that asset type. Asset type may be determined based on variousindicia such as ticker symbol or QUSIP, which are unique to the asset.Once the asset type has been , additional information regarding thatasset type may be acquired from the product system. That may also becommunicated to the rules engine 130, which may generate additionaldecisions or necessitate additional service cases.

In an exemplary embodiment, a messaging engine 150 is configured toreceive and execute a request to send a message. The messaging engine150 may comprise enterprise messaging middleware, such as MQ messagingfrom IBM, or may comprise any other software suitable for sendingmessages. An exemplary message may comprise a request for additionalinformation, or a confirmation that the data was received. Messagingengine 150 may be configured to maintain the security and/orconfidentiality of transmitted information through means such asencryption, application of appropriate legends, e.g., proprietarylegends, and use of secure transmission means.

As described above, a service case is generated for every piece ofbusiness that the administrator 120 receives. The service case mayenable the monitoring of the piece of business, including aspects suchas who is assigned a task relating to the piece of business. Forexample, a service case manager 140 may be instructed to monitor thebusiness process of requesting and collecting certain necessaryinformation.

In an exemplary embodiment, a remote protocol may be used to collectdata.

In accordance with the embodiment, a remote protocol is configured toacquire a predetermined set of data. For example, a remote protocol maybe configured to retrieve an account registration, an account type,and/or a product type. Standard remote protocols may be configured toaccomplish common or repetitive information requests.

In addition, a product data system maintains information relating toinvestment accounts such as asset identities, balances, recent trades,dividends, and/or any other information related to an investmentaccount. Product data system, as well as other databases used inconjunction with the invention, may be any type of database, such asrelational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like. Commondatabase products that may be used to implement the databases includeDB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), any of the database products availablefrom Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), Microsoft Access byMicrosoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), or any other database product.Database may be organized in any suitable manner, including as datatables or lookup tables. Association of certain data may be accomplishedthrough any data association technique known and practiced in the art.For example, the association may be accomplished either manually orautomatically. Automatic association techniques may include, forexample, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, and/orthe like. The association step may be accomplished by a database mergefunction, for example, using a “key field” in each of the manufacturerand retailer data tables. A “key field” partitions the databaseaccording to the high-level class of objects defined by the key field.For example, a certain class may be designated as a key field in boththe first data table and the second data table, and the two data tablesmay then be merged on the basis of the class data in the key field. Inthis embodiment, the data corresponding to the key field in each of themerged data tables is preferably the same. However, data tables havingsimilar, though not identical, data in the key fields may also be mergedby using AGREP, for example.

Finally, a document imager may be configured to image any document thatis received. Document imager may also be configured to store the imagesin a database for a predetermined amount of time in accordance withdocument retention guidelines that may be established to aid in theresolution of disputes and/or to comply with government, industry andcompany regulations, standards and/or customs.

With reference to FIG. 2, in accordance with a further aspect of thepresent invention, a method of facilitating the transfer of aninvestment account from an delivering 190 to a receiving firm 196(method 200) is also provided. In accordance with the invention, data iscollected from sources including the delivering firm 190, the receivingfirm 196, and an external system such as ACATS 180 (step 210). When thehas been collected, it is communicated to the administrator 120 (step220), which cooperates with the rules engine 130 to perform one or morebusiness rules decisions (step 230), and to initiate one or morebusiness process (step 240). The business processes depend upon thedecisions made by the rules engine 130 and may include sending messages,acquiring additional information, or making additional determinations.At least one of the business processes includes completing theinvestment account transfer (step 299).

The step of collecting data from the delivering firm 190 (step 210) maycomprise the steps of providing the delivering firm 190 with a formhaving a series of blanks (step 211) and automatically receiving acompleted form from the delivering firm 190 (step 212). Alternatively,the step of collecting data from the delivering firm 190 (step 210)could comprise the steps of gathering the information during a telephoneconversation with a representative of the delivering firm 190 ordirectly from the investor or a representative of the investor (step213).

Once the data has been collected and communicated to the administrator120, the rules engine 130 compares the client's data from thedestination firm to the data acquired from the delivering firm 190 anddetermines whether the data matches or substantially correlates based ona predetermined requirement (step 231). If the data does not match, theadministrator 120 determines whether a letter of authorization has beenacquired authorizing the transfer between the non-matching clientaccounts (step 232). In addition, the rules engine 130 may compare thetax identification number of the delivering firm 190 to the numberreceived from the client (step 233). If the numbers do not match, theadministrator 120 may also determine whether an override has beenenabled (step 234).

It should be noted that ACATS 180 is an external industry system thatinvestment firms use to transfer assets. Accordingly, ACATS 180 mayprovide details of an investment account and the individual assetswithin that account. Therefore, for transfers that may use ACATS 180, itmay not be necessary for the system to identify each of the assets. Fornon-ACAT transfers, however, each of the assets in an investment accountmust be identified. The identification may include the QUSIP or theticker symbol of the asset. The administrator 120 may use theidentification data to access additional data from the product system todetermine the type of each asset, e.g., stock, bond, mutual fund, etc.Accordingly, the administrator 120 may issue a message seeking retrievalof additional information from the product system (step 214). The soughtreply would describe each of the assets. For example, if the accountincludes mutual funds, the administrator 120 may issue a messagerequesting that a service case manager 140 to collect data including aproduct code and type (step 215) so that the rules engine 130 maydetermine which type of products may hold the mutual fund (step 235).

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the rules engine 130determines the type of the service case (step 236). Exemplary servicecase types include incomplete service cases, ACAT service cases,non-ACAT service cases, and mutual fund service cases. If the servicecase is an ACAT transfer case 170, the administrator 120 may issue amessage instructing that a full transfer of asset be accomplished (step299). If the case is a non-ACAT transfer case 170, however, theadministrator 120 will instruct the messaging engine 150 to requestadditional information regarding each individual asset (step 216). Oncethat information has been collected, the rules engine 130 determineswhether each of the assets are eligible to be accepted by the receivingaccount and determines what type of service case to establish (step237). Finally, the administrator 120 issues appropriate service casesconfigured to accomplish the transfer of those assets (step 298).

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, the administrator 120selects a firm or fund family based on the information that wascollected (step 241). Based on that firm or fund family, the rulesengine 130 compares the account identifiers, e.g., client registrationnames, associated with the delivering account and the destinationaccount (step 238). If additional notes need to be added to the servicecase, the administrator 120 prompts the messaging engine 150 to add theadditional notes to the electronic message and to dispatch theelectronic message to the investor or the representative of the investor(step 242). Finally, the administrator 120 initiates a service case tomanage the transfer (step 243).

If the transfer is ACATS eligible, the system, upon receipt of assetsdata from the delivering firm 190, automatically evaluates the assetsand determines if the investment firm can hold them (step 239). Ifassets are found that cannot be held at the group or within a specificproduct at the group, the invention will automatically submit theappropriate instructions to existing systems to “line item delete” theindividual Mutual Funds that cannot be held (step 244). In addition, theinvention will automatically submit the appropriate instructions toexisting systems to “register” Mutual Funds if the transfer is beingprocessed through ACATS 180 (step 245). Once assets have been received,the invention, based on input from existing reports, automaticallyupdates the service cases that maintain the status of the transferrequest (step 246). If no problems are encountered in the process thatrequire manual intervention, the invention allows an ACATS transfer tobe completely automated after the initial entry of the transfer data.

Upon the passage of predefined milestones during the investment accounttransfer process, the administrator 120 may also issue messagesinstructing the messaging engine 150 to provide automated investornotifications (step 247). The administrator 120 may also issue servicecases including submission of a transfer request and the review of asseteligibility upon receipt of asset data (step 248).

Accordingly, the invention improves the processes of collecting data,and, based on a pre-defined and user maintainable set of business rules,automatically determines the appropriate courses of action and workflowsbased on the collected data. The outcome of the automated decisioning ofthe riles engine 130 is to automatically create service cases, generateelectronic messages and/or submit the transfer request to ACATS 180. Inthe case of non-ACATS transfers, information about the delivering firm190 and the assets being transferred are processed to automaticallydetermine what service cases to create and processes to follow in orderto complete the transfer process.

The present invention may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, optional selections and variousprocessing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocksmay be realized by any number of hardware and/or software componentsconfigured to the specified functions. For example, the presentinvention may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memoryelements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and thelike, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control ofone or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, thesoftware elements of the present invention may be implemented with anyprogramming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL,assembler, PERL, extensible markup language (XML), with the variousalgorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures,objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, itshould be noted that the present invention may employ any number ofconventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, dataprocessing, network control, and the like. Still further, the inventioncould be used to detect or prevent security issues with a client-sidescripting language, such as JavaScript, VBScript or the like. For abasic introduction of cryptography and network security, the followingmay be helpful references: (1) “Applied Cryptography: Protocols,Algorithms, And Source Code In C,” by Bruce Schneier, published by JohnWiley & Sons (second edition, 1996); (2) “Java Cryptography” by JonathanKnudson, published by O'Reilly & Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography &Network Security: Principles & Practice” by William Stalling, publishedby Prentice Hall; all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

It will be appreciated, that many applications of the present inventioncould be formulated. One skilled in the art will appreciate that thenetwork may include any system for exchanging data or transactingbusiness, such as the Internet, an , an extranet, WAN, LAN, satellitecommunications, and/or the like. It is noted that the network may beimplemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. The users may interact with the system via anyinput device such as a keyboard, mouse, kiosk, personal digitalassistant, handheld computer (e.g., Palm Pilot®), cellular phone and/orthe like. Similarly, the invention could be used in conjunction with anytype of personal computer, network computer, workstation, minicomputer,mainframe, or the like running any operating system such as any versionof Windows, Windows NT, Windows2000, Windows 98, Windows 95, MacOS,OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, Solaris or the like. Moreover, although theinvention is frequently described herein as being implemented withTCP/IP communications protocols, it will be readily understood that theinvention could also be implemented using IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS,OSI or any number of existing or future protocols. Moreover, the systemcontemplates the use, sale or distribution of any goods, services orover any network having similar functionality described herein.

It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown anddescribed herein are illustrative of the invention and its best mode andare not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present inventionin any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, conventional datanetworking, application development and other functional aspects of thesystems (and components of the individual operating components of thesystems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, theconnecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein areintended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physicalcouplings between the various elements. It should be noted that manyalternative or additional functional relationships or physicalconnections may be present in a practical electronic transaction system.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the presentinvention may be embodied as a method, a data processing system, adevice for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirelysoftware embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or an embodimentcombining aspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore, thepresent invention may take the form of a computer program product on acomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program codemeans embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, opticalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or the like.

The present invention is described herein with reference to screenshots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus(e.g., systems), and computer program products according to variousaspects of the invention. It will be understood that each functionalblock of the block diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, andcombinations of functional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computer programinstructions. These computer program may be loaded onto a generalpurpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionswhich execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific embodiments. However, it will be appreciated thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the present invention. The specification and figures are to beregarded in an illustrative manner, rather than a restrictive one, andall such modifications are intended to be included within the scope ofpresent invention. For example, the steps recited in any of the methodor process claims may be executed in any order and are not limited tothe order presented.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become pronouncedare not to be construed as critical, required, or essential features orany or all the claims. As used herein, the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover anon-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, no elementdescribed herein is required for the practice of the invention unlessexpressly described as “essential” or “critical”.

1. An improved system for transferring an account comprising: anapplication program configured to interface with an administrator, and arules engine; said administrator configured to initiate a transfer casecomprising transfer instructions, wherein said transfer case facilitatestransfer of an account from a first entity to a second entity; saidrules engine configured to determine a transfer type; said administratorconfigured to cooperate with said rules engine to initiate a businessprocess instruction to advance said transfer case, wherein said businessprocess instruction is configured in accordance with said transfer type;said administrator configured to communicate said business processinstruction to a business process instruction manager; said businessprocess instruction manager configured to facilitate management of saidtransfer case in accordance with a business rule of said rules engine,wherein said rules engine is configured to determine a correlationbetween said transfer instructions to a pre-determined threshold; and,said administrator configured to initiate an additional business processinstruction when said rules engine determines that said correlationbetween said transfer instructions is below said pre-determinedthreshold.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein said transfer instructionscomprise delivering data, receiving data, and external data.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein said account is an investment account.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein said transfer type comprises at least one ofAutomated Client Account Transfer System (ACATS), non-ACATS, and mutualfund.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein said business rules areconfigured to be modified by a user.
 6. The system of claim 1, whereinsaid processing instructions are configured to determine eligibility ofan asset for receipt by a receiving firm.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein said improved system is in communication with an automatedaccount transfer system, said processing instructions configured tocommunicate said transfer request to said automated account transfersystem.
 8. The system of claim 1, said application program configured tointerface with a messaging engine, said messaging engine configured toreceive instructions from said service case manager and to transmit amessage.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein said messaging engine isconfigured to notify a representative of an investor upon an occurrenceof a predetermined event during at least one of analysis of saidtransfer request and execution of said processing instructions.
 10. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein said messaging engine is configured to notifyan investor upon an occurrence of a predetermined event during at leastone of analysis of said transfer request and execution of saidprocessing instructions.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein saidapplication program further comprises a service case manager for aservice case.
 12. An improved method for computerized transfer ofaccounts comprising the steps of: initiating a transfer case comprisingtransfer instructions, wherein said transfer case facilitates transferof management of an account from a first entity to a second entity;initiating a business process instruction to advance said transfer case,wherein said business process instruction is configured in accordancewith a transfer type; performing said business process instruction basedon said transfer instructions; performing said business processinstruction in conjunction with a business rule to create a transferrequest, said business process instruction producing an automatedresponse in accordance with values of said transfer instructions;determining a correlation between said transfer instructions to apre-determined threshold; and, initiating an additional business processwhen a rules engine determines that said correlation between saidtransfer instructions is below said pre-determined threshold.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein said transfer instructions comprise saiddelivering data, said receiving data, and said external data.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising collecting transfer instructions,wherein said transfer instructions comprise said delivering data, saidreceiving data, and said external data, and wherein said delivering datais collected from a delivering firm, said external data is collectedfrom an external source, and said receiving data is collected from areceiving firm.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein said transfer typecomprises at least one of Automated Client Account Transfer System(ACATS), non-ACATS, and a mutual fund.
 16. The method of claim 12,wherein said step of producing an automated response comprisescommunicating said transfer request to an automated account transfersystem.
 17. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of producing anautomated response comprises determining eligibility of an asset forreceipt by said receiving firm.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein saidstep of initiating a business process comprises initiating a servicecase which comprises a business process.
 19. The method of claim 12,wherein said step of initiating a business process comprises initiatinga service case which comprises a business process, and furthercomprising determining a transfer type of said service case.